I was led into one of the smaller aftercare rooms—some had beds, this one did not—and my white knight remained with me, his body warm at my side. I squeezed my eyes shut to avoid him, hoping he’d get me settled, then leave me alone. I was embarrassed. As far as I was concerned, I’d earned a little privacy.
Plus, I wanted to be oblivious to everything and everyone. The fact that they’d seen me at my worst was enough. I wasn’t sure I could even look them in the eye.
“Can I get you anything?”
I shook my head, keeping my back to him and a death grip on the blanket.
I had no idea who my rescuer was, but I was sure, if I looked into his face, I would recognize him. I’d been a member of this club since they opened, as well as several others in the area. I wasn’t new to the scene, although Josh was. He’d insisted that this was his calling after he met me nine months ago. Not that I’d believed him, but since submission was something I needed in order to function, I’d given in. Probably a little too quickly.
The man’s warm hand was on my shoulder, and this time when he turned me, I didn’t fight him off, but I did keep my head down.
“What’s your name?” he asked, his finger curling under my chin, urging me to look at him.
I allowed him to guide me, and when I opened my eyes, I realized two things instantly.
First, he wasn’t a boy, as Josh had so snidely referred to him. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I pegged him to be in his late thirties.
And secondly, my white knight…wasn’t white. He had flawless mocha-brown skin with the most intensely beautiful light brown eyes that appeared gold against his dark, perfectly symmetrical face. His eyebrows were thick slashes over his eyes, his nose was wide and damn near perfect. His lips… Oh, he had the sexiest lips I’d ever seen on a man.
I stopped ogling his mouth and lifted my gaze. My heart stuttered briefly from the intensity in his golden eyes. They were like sunbeams coming out of his face, and for the life of me, I couldn’t look away.
That sensual mouth curled up, making the corners of his eyes crinkle.
Right.
He had asked my name.
“Addis—” Damn, I sounded like I’d gargled sand. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “Addison Hayes.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Addison Hayes.”
I couldn’t seem to look away from him. He was beautiful and, yes, familiar.
“My name’s Ben,” he said by way of introduction.
“Benjamin Snowden.” Yeah. I knew who he was.
His smile widened and perfectly straight white teeth flashed back at me. “You can call me Master Snowden while we’re here in the club.”
Master?
That would’ve been easier to do had I not been privy to what had just gone down. Considering the other guy had called Ben his submissive…I was so freaking confused.
Plus, you know, there was the collar around his neck and all.
However, it wasn’t my place to contradict him, so I nodded, unsure what to say.
And then, the world started to close in on me. Pain flashed on my backside and I remembered everything that had happened in the past twenty minutes. Suddenly, those stupid tears were forming again. Before I could force them back, Master Snowden pulled me into his arms and I rested my face against his very smooth, very muscled, very bare chest while I held the blanket securely around me.
His big hand cradled the back of my head and the urge to sob was so great I almost gave in to it.
“It’s all right, precious. I won’t let him hurt you again.”
He obviously misunderstood what the problem was, but I didn’t bother to correct him.
I wasn’t worried about Josh. I’d known from the beginning that the guy could take me or leave me. It wasn’t like we were in love or anything. And based on the way things had gone down, no way was he going to stick around. He was an asshole of a different breed. I doubted there was a gentlemanly bone in his body.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, my throat tight. “Really.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.” His voice was soothing. “I’ll wait with you until we can get one of the medics in here.”
“I don’t need one,” I assured him, mumbling against his ridiculously nice chest. “Really. He didn’t break the skin.” At least I didn’t think he had.
There was a rough growl that emanated from deep within him and I found myself pulling back so I could look up into his face again. Beautiful—although suspicious—brown eyes peered down at me.
“Who is he to you?”
I sighed, dropping my head and letting Master Snowden’s heartbeat sound against my ear. “He was my boyfriend.”
